"Everybody Can Recover": Fighting Psychiatric Subjectivation and Helping Others Along the Way: An Interview with Prateeksha Sharma

"Everybody Can Recover": Fighting Psychiatric Subjectivation and Helping Others Along the Way: An Interview with Prateeksha Sharma

Psychosis and conditions like Schizophrenia have been tainted with pessimism right from the beginning. Doctors often don't know that recovery is possible and can convey this fatalism to their patients. Prateeksha Sharma's lived experience and research work challenges this pessimism. Prateeksha is a musician, a researcher, a composer, a counselor, and a writer. However, for the longest time, she was only thought of as a patient.

She is a distinguished research fellow at the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research in Hyderabad and the founder of Brightside Family Counseling Center. She received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder as a college student and has managed these achievements while navigating the horrors and the gifts of psychosis. Prateeksha's writings critically examine psychiatric systems and foreground survivor perspectives. She brings intellectual depth and personal clarity to what it means to move from being labeled a patient, to being recognized as a person.

In this interview, we discuss psychiatric subjectivation, medical zombification, the silencing effects of diagnosis, and how lived experience completely reshapes the conversation about mental health.

***

Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/

To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850

© Mad in America 2026. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

Avsnitt(292)

UberTherapy and the Enshittification of our Relational Lives: Part 1 of our Interview with Elizabeth Cotton

UberTherapy and the Enshittification of our Relational Lives: Part 1 of our Interview with Elizabeth Cotton

Elizabeth Cotton is Associate Professor of Responsible Business at the University of Leicester and the founder of Surviving Work, which carries out socially engaged research on mental health and work....

11 Feb 46min

Food First, Pharma Last - Part Two of our Interview with Chris Masterjohn

Food First, Pharma Last - Part Two of our Interview with Chris Masterjohn

This week, we are joined by Chris Masterjohn, PhD. Chris is a nutritional scientist, a former professor, and the founder of Mitome. With a PhD in nutritional science and years of research in mitochond...

28 Jan 44min

Mitochondria and Energetic Failures - A New Understanding of Antidepressant Withdrawal? An Interview with Chris Masterjohn

Mitochondria and Energetic Failures - A New Understanding of Antidepressant Withdrawal? An Interview with Chris Masterjohn

This week, we are joined by Chris Masterjohn, PhD. Chris is a nutritional scientist, a former professor, and the founder of Mitome. With a PhD in nutritional science and years of research in mitochond...

21 Jan 43min

Why Critical Mental Health Knowledge Is Essential for Ethical Practice: An Interview with Jan DeFehr

Why Critical Mental Health Knowledge Is Essential for Ethical Practice: An Interview with Jan DeFehr

Jan N. DeFehr is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg and an associate of The Taos Institute and a member of the Faculty for Palestine, Manitoba. She is als...

14 Jan 47min

ADHD Diagnoses, Examining the Psyche, Withdrawal and PSSD Risks, ECT Harms and More: Robert Whitaker Answers Reader Questions

ADHD Diagnoses, Examining the Psyche, Withdrawal and PSSD Risks, ECT Harms and More: Robert Whitaker Answers Reader Questions

In our first podcast of 2026, Robert Whitaker joins us to answer questions submitted by Mad in America readers and listeners. We discuss the validity of ADHD diagnoses, withdrawal and sexual dysfuncti...

7 Jan 48min

Learning to Soar: A Conversation With Artist Kev G Mor

Learning to Soar: A Conversation With Artist Kev G Mor

Musician and artist Kev G Mor joins us to discuss his experience of psychosis, his daily support strategies, and the pros and cons of having a hundred-pound pit bull terrier for emotional support. Kev...

17 Dec 202543min

Antidepressant Withdrawal: Finding an Astronomical Perspective - A Conversation with Safa Askeri

Antidepressant Withdrawal: Finding an Astronomical Perspective - A Conversation with Safa Askeri

Safa Askeri joins us to discuss his experience of antidepressant withdrawal and the gaslighting he was subjected to as he raised concerns with his doctors. "After this happened to me, I know that I ca...

19 Nov 202537min

Psychiatric Drugs: The Real World is Where the Harms Live

Psychiatric Drugs: The Real World is Where the Harms Live

Joining us for a roundtable discussion are Brooke Siem, David Antonuccio, Kim Witzak, Angie Peacock and David Healy. They discuss the challenges of openly discussing psychiatric drug withdrawal, the t...

29 Okt 202545min

Populärt inom Hälsa

somna-med-henrik
rss-jossan-nina
inga-beiga-morsor
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
alska-oss
rss-vuxna-pa-latsas
angestpodden
johannes-hansen-podcast
sexnoveller-deluxe
not-fanny-anymore
rss-viktmedicinpodden
brottarbroder
sa-in-i-sjalen
sova-med-dan-horning
rss-the-house-podcast-3
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
rss-basta-livet
smartare-fitness-podden
tyngre-traningssnack
rss-psykoterapipodden